Water Logged
by MiLady Oakenshield
Summary: One moment of foolishness could cost Thorin everything. ONE-SHOT based on a comic strip by Brilcrist on deviantart.


**This one-shot is a written as an interpretation to a wonderfully illustrated comic on deviantart. Seriously, y'all should check it out. It's just how I would have imagined it turning out if the nearly drowning in the book had made its way into the movie. **

Written by milady oakenshield; with comic illustration by Brilcrist  
WARNING(s): Angst, Injured!Kili, over protective!Thorin

"_Because brothers don't let each other wander in the dark alone_." –Jolene Perry

There is no time to think. There is no time to reach for help. The beast had already slipped and fallen, and with Kili's hand twisted in the reins, it had taken the unfortunate lad along with it. It kicked and it neighed, and the pour heir of Durin was pulled under the water almost instantly.

He was always carefree and somewhat reckless, rarely having a conscious thought before he acted, especially when he was so sure of his actions. Handsome and physically able, he possessed an indomitable courage of his youth that he often trusted on even when it wouldn't help him. It was always Kili to get himself into the worst bit of trouble; and he always able to get himself back out of it, most times anyway, except for now when the river's current was much too strong for his lean body to withstand.

Drowning is often said to be quick and silent, though preceded by a loud, violent struggle mostly associated with non-swimmers or those who did possess such skills but whose skills were thrown into sharp relief when trying to save themselves in such a dire situation. It's noted that drowning usually begins at the point where a person is unable to keep their mouth above water; their lungs fill quickly, and the person rarely, if at all, has the chance to cough it back up.

The cold water is already choking him. Consciousness is already slipping away. And for the briefest of moments, he thinks he can hear someone calling to him. He tries to look but the way the river is assaulting him so violently makes it impossible for him to know which direction the voice is coming from, or even which direction he is facing. All he knows is the pressure of the reins as they tighten around his wrist. There is a sharp pain that he cannot cry out for because even if he does, more water will fill his lungs.

As the pony kicks in the current, and tries to get decent enough footing on the mud under his hooves, the reins are tugged and Kili is able to lift his head above the surface for just a moment but it is a moment none the less. He gulps in a frantic gasp of air, and it fills his lungs with that life-saving oxygen he most desperately needs.

"_Kili!_"

.

.

His vision is so clouded, so diluted, that he cannot see the dwarf standing near the riverbank screaming for him – but he surely hears it, through as much as his hearing would allow.

"Let go, Kili!" It is the small chorus of voices he hears, muted at best, that call for him to release the reins, but he can't – they have twisted themselves so tightly around his wrist that getting his arm free is beyond question.

"…the current is too strong, lad!" It's Balin's voice, though not nearly as forced as the first voice he heard, but enough for him to know who the voice belongs to.

When Kili is pulled under the surface again, a panic arises in Fili's chest and a sickening dread settles in his belly.

He is tugging off his boots and throwing aside his rained-soaked coat almost simultaneously, and then is darting forward the next moment. Fingers have barely brushed over his shoulder in a clear but pathetic attempt to hold him back.

But it was Thorin who reacted first, screaming, "Fili! DON'T!", but his cries come too late; the young lad, his nephew, heir to his thrown, was already waist deep in the river.

Mahal it was cold.

It wasn't the cold he was concerned about; he saw his brother's head emerge for only a second before he was forcefully submerged again.

When he could see Kili again, Fili was already reaching for him. "TAKE MY HAND!" he was screaming, shouting hoarsely even though the water had invaded his lungs by the time he had gotten within a short distance of the younger.

"FEE!"

Reaching for his brother took more effort than his body was willing to put out. The current pulled him under once again, barely allowing him to register his brother crying, "KILI!", as he was tossed and turned about some more.

He was losing this struggle. Maybe if he had just listened to his uncle, not wandered off the road, not put himself in such a dangerous position; maybe only then-

There is no bodily sensation to warn a person of an impression blackout, and victims – often capable swimmers just under the surface of water – become unconscious and drown quietly. But this isn't quietly at all; in fact, there is quite a bit of violent thrashing. Though once the blackness consumes him, his struggling ceases all together.

.

.

"…No Fili. This quest will be dangerous," it's the raised voices that stir him from his sleep, and he tosses in his bed until he realizes it's impossible, so he gets up to investigate, and the voices get louder as he draws closer, until he recognizes at least one of them as Thorin's. "I can't risk taking you both with me…"

Kili draws a curtain back, pinching the folds between his palm, and sees his brother and his uncle in the middle of some kind of verbal squabble. "But Thorin!", his brother was protesting, "You've always said this is what we're been waiting for, what we're been preparing for; we're ready now!"

Curious; he pulls back the curtain more, and even takes a step forward.

"You're both still very young, still reckless. I'm afraid if something happening on the journey I won't be…"

Fili's voice breaks as soon as Kili's aware he's been detected. The brother's exchange a very brief glance, but it's enough for the brunette archer to know Fili was aware their arguing had brought his baby brother from sleep but he doesn't dare say anything; he'll surely talk with Kili another time when Thorin wasn't there. Even though, Kili being there, almost made him completely conscious to what the conversation was about anyway. Just how long had he been standing there, and how much has he already heard?

His brother, though visually acknowledging Kili's presence, ignores it. "Then let me and Kili fight alongside you," he argues in defense, "Let us look after each other, no matter what happens." His brother is always looking after him, so if there is to be some quest then is comforts Kili to know his elder brother wouldn't abandon him.

Thorin's almost in a rage. "This is not a game, boy!"

"No it's not! Please uncle! Kili and I will…"

And then voices fade as if someone has muted then conversation entirely. He can't hear them. But he tries reaching for them. His fingers don't exactly touch. His eyes fill with tears. Why can't he touch them? Why can't they hear him screaming for them? All they do is standing there arguing but they can't see him at all.

He's a ghost wandering between them. Even when he's standing right by them, waving his hands in their faces, trying to get their attention, they don't blink an eye. It's nerve wracking. He's scream and screaming, and he can hear his own voice, but it's like shouting at the top of his lungs in a room full of people and no one even bothers to look up.

But then there might be some hope that he was acknowledged.

"_Kili?_"

.

.

Fili kneels on the riverbank coughing up water from his lungs while Bofur's hand rest between his shoulder blades, and the toy maker is rubbing that area just over the lad's spine encouraging him to breathe. He's saying something so soft and so subtle that Fili is hardly able to make out the words or the fact the voice he hears if Bofur's; his heartbeat is somewhere in his ears, blocking out all other sound around him.

Then there is some kind of commotion ahead of them. It's not the raised voices he hears, but he sees the way Bofur's body has reacted and feels those gentle ministrations suddenly stop. Once he is sure he isn't hearing his own heartbeat in his ears, Fili springs to his feet shrugging off the hand, and an attempt to pull him back, as he races forward.

Thorin has laid Kili on one of the few patches of dry land, with only the boy's head supported by a low rise of earth covered by grass and moss. It is with great urgency that the king under the mountain fumbles his fingers over Kili's lips then lowers his cheek to Kili's chest. It rests there for several minutes, minutes in which Fili is standing somewhere behind his uncle. Thorin's brow twitches, and he pushes the side of his face harder into his nephew's chest until something akin to a manic laugh is pulled from his throat.

During sleep, a slow heartbeat is generally considered normal; but Kili's always has been, and it's with great relief that he still has one at all. It's not beating as it should be, but it is there, and it does beat, and it's what gives Thorin that assurance his nephew is still alive.

"…Kili?"

Submerging the face in water colder than twenty one degrees celsius triggers a type of reflex. This reflex protects the body by putting it into an energy saving mode to maximize the time it can stay under water.

This reflexive action is automatic and allows both a conscious and an unconscious person to survive much longer without oxygen.

"Kili?" There's a feathery-like pressure across his cheek, so soft that he barely feels it, but he knows it's somewhat comforting. "Can you hear us?"

It's his uncle's voice that brings him out of his unconscious state. Though his vision stills swims and his head is pounding, he cracks open his eyelids and sees through water-logged lashes two dwarrows kneeling over his body. "…u..uncle? Fee…?"

Fili releases a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. "Thank Mahal…I, I thought you'd never wake up!"

"_It's already guys, Kili's fine_!"

All of a sudden, Kili's body lurches forward and he starts coughing up the dirty river water from his lungs. It's such a violent and hard cough that it takes both Fili and Thorin aback. The elder of the boys dropped to his knees and placed one hand on his brother's shoulders, then rolled him to his side and allowed Kili to continue expelling the water, then gasping for fresh air, and coughing up more water, and more.

As his brother's coughing fit died off, Fili circled an arm around Kili's shoulders and brought his brother's body closer to his own. "Are you hurting anywhere?" he asks, ignorant of the shooting pain Kili feels in his sore wrist.

"…Just… my head." He didn't mention anything about his wrist, probably because his body was still recovering from being submerged for so long and it could only register one thing at a time.

Thorin had stayed quiet long enough; he'd given Fili time to comfort his brother, but now he had this well of anger bubbling up in his throat, somewhere twisting against his muscles and the veins in his neck. His own heart is still pounding, but he doesn't know if that is from the anger, the shock of the cold water or relief that his nephew is alive.

But he's angry, because it was their foolishness that got them both into this mess in the first place, their stupid, childish and foolish _bullshit_ that nearly robbed him of Kili, and possibly Fili as well if he hadn't gotten to the river when he did; and now he can no longer keep silent.

"FOOLS!" He screams, "BOTH OF YOU!" His face is almost red, and his heart is pounding harder until he swears by Mahal that he can hear every last best in his own ears. "If the current has indeed swept you away- HOW many times have I told you this quest was no mere game?!"

Even when his youngest is looking at him with those pathetic doe eyes, Thorin doesn't stop; he doesn't even know why at this point, because he really didn't intend to keep yelling at them. But once he started, he couldn't stop. "Yet you _still_ behave in such childish and reckless manner! I will be the one to look like a fool for bringing you two along!"

Thorin has recognized the panic he feels burning his chest, and it's hurting him how fast his heart is beating. He starts breathing evenly in an effort to calm himself down.

Fili rose slowly, and Kili cowers more into his brother's chest as if he knew he was about to get whipped for misbehaving. "I-It was my fault, uncle…I…my pony slipped because I wasn't paying attention to the road…"

"No it's me!" his brother interrupted. "I shouldn't have distracted Kili so much."

"But Fili, I'm the one who…"

"ENOUGH!" And just like that, both boys are silenced. Thorin sighed then stepped up closer to them until he drew Fili's attention, and Kili was craning his head to listen. "Next time… both of you listen to what I say, alright?" They nod, and he's somehow calmer. "That is all I ask."

"Uncle? We…we're…" Kili's voice falters.

Bilbo comes up from behind them with a blanket. "Thorin! Do you need any… thing… from… " His voice fades off, and he stops suddenly at the sight he sees.

Thorin has both his nephews pulled to him, and he's cradling Kili's head against his shoulder much as he would if the boy was still a small child.

"We're sorry, uncle," Fili says lowly.

Kili adds; "Yes we are."

But Thorin doesn't really hear much of their apology because that anger he felt earlier has since melted away, and now all he feels is relief.

And Bilbo stands there with a smile on his face.

**Not going to lie, this was a BITCH to get started. I didn't know which direction to start in until a friend kind of gave me a suggestion. Thank you, Cockapoo. Please read and review, and please for sure take a look at the comic strip this was inspired by.**

brilcrist. deviantart art/Hobbit -Comic-part-01 -371150698 (had to break this up because won't let me add the link as a whole)


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